Hours after the demise of the 19-year-old NEET aspirant in Madurai, the representatives of the Communist Party of India -Marxist and the Democratic Youth Federation of India had, on Saturday, staged a protest in front of the Sivanandapuram post office in Coimbatore to repeal the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET).
During the protest of pressing their demand, the protesters had sent pigeons - as a symbol the freeing the students from the challenges and injustices, to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to repeal the NEET, that still haunts the students as the handicapped and unfair implementation of the national entrance test had levied huge challenge in chasing their dreams and pursuing the medical studies.
Speaking about the different sign of protest of sending a pigeon to the Prime Minister, the representative of the Democratic Youth Federation of India had said that because of the mental stress caused by NEET, some students in Tamil Nadu had committed suicide, and the recent one being Jothi Sri Durga, the 19-year-old NEET aspirant who committed suicide in her home in Madurai on Saturday, one day ahead of the exam.
Her demise is the second one within a week that was linked to the national entrance test. According to reports, 19-year-old medical aspirant Jothi Sri Durga was attending coaching classes and preparing for her second NEET attempt, as for the first time, she only managed to score 100 marks As the National Testing Agency and the Supreme Court had pressed that there would be no postponement for the exam, she had been studying hard and she was seen preparing for exams on Friday night before she had gone to sleep.
On Saturday morning, the family members knocked the door of her room, but there was no response following which they broke the door and to their shock, she was found dead following which the local police had started the investigation.
In her suicide note, she has written that she has taken the extreme step with the fear that she won't be able to fulfill the expectations fo her family if she fails in the national entrance test. She said, "Everyone had kept more expectations on me. I'm sorry. All your hard work for me will go in vain if I didn't get a medical seat. I'm sorry. I'm tired". "To everyone, it is not your fault. Don't blame yourself and anyone. Please forgive me, I love you all", she further penned.
The back to back deaths of aspirants had triggered immense outrage in the state as the political parties and activists have been staunchly demanding the government to repeal the NEET, that has been going against the dreams of the students and is unfair towards students coming from rural areas and from working-class families. According to reports, around 1,17,502 students in Tamil Nadu would be writing the NEET exam on September 13 across 14 centers in the state.
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